quinoa

Vegan Quinoa and White Bean Chili

November 8, 2013 by Erica

Vegan Quinoa and White Bean Chili

When I say chili, something meaty and tomato-based probably comes to mind. Or, if you like veggie chilis, you at least probably think of something tomato-y and darker in color than this. Wellll, I love that type of chili, but I decided it would be fun to make a semi-albino variation – no tomatoes here! – featuring white beans and (naturally) quinoa.

Quinoa chili has been on my to-cook list for quite some time, and now the weather is finally cool enough to make it. And as anticipated, I love the texture of the quinoa mixed in here! It thickens up this chili quite a bit, soaking up all that cumin-y broth. Along with the beans, it makes this dish super filling, not to mention being fun and chewy (which of course I have to mention anyway, because that is always what I love about quinoa). But the quinoa doesn’t take center stage like it did in Monday’s recipe – that is reserved for the veggies and spices.

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Vanilla Cardamom Quinoa Pudding

November 4, 2013 by Erica

Good morning and happy Monday!

I hope you had a fun and relaxing weekend! We started the weekend off by going to see Gravity in 3D on Friday night. Actually, I lied. We started the weekend off by testing multiple versions of this pudding, and then posting about it on Instagram so you all can be entirely sure that I lead the least exciting life possible.

But then we did actually leave the house and saw Gravity. Not that I ever hoped to be an astronaut, but I’m going to go ahead and say that now I never want to go into space. That movie stressed me out so much. I was so tense that I actually had a backache by the end. What do you think – am I a good candidate for space if I can barely handle the stress of staring at a screen for 90 minutes? Staying cool under pressure is deeeefinitely what I’m good at.

Not.

I think I should stick to pudding.

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No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies

October 21, 2013 by Erica

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies

Well, we’re back from Moab! And all four of us survived the half marathon. I’ll have a race recap for you in the next few days, but for now, let’s just say it went better than last year! And that at the moment, I’d rather talk about cookies.

I don’t know about you all, but I absolutely love classic no-bake cookies. I ate them for the first time in our college dining hall, and I didn’t stop for four years straight. Those things are so good; they were seriously my downfall. They had them for dessert maybe once a week or every two weeks, and I had to get several every time. I would enter the dining hall planning to eat no dessert that night, but as soon as I saw those no-bake cookies, my sugar-free intentions fell by the wayside. That was the problem with dining hall desserts. There were some I had no interest in, and some I loved. God forbid they put out two of my favorites on the same night… because I had to have one of each. Never mind the fact that you knew it would be there again in a few weeks. At that moment it always seemed like you would be missing your last chance on earth for a no-bake cookie if you didn’t get one right that instant. That, my friends, is what we call the freshman 15.

My freshman 15 was made up almost exclusively of no-bake cookies, Twisted Smirnoffs, and discovering I loved cream in my coffee instead of milk. But let’s stick to the no-bakes for now.

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Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Figs and Sage

September 25, 2013 by Erica

Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Figs and Sage

Don’t you love the crossover seasons? When you can drive with your seat heater on and the windows down, wear boots with no jacket, and stuff winter squash with figs. It’s the best of both worlds!

Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Figs and Sage

I didn’t really discover figs until this year. Previously, despite my childhood love of Fig Newtons, I thought that fresh figs had 1) a scary texture and 2) a scary price. I liked them only when caramelized to a juicy perfection on top of a pizza at the aptly named Figs, my favorite pizza place in Boston. Then, naturally, I discovered that the blogosphere goes crazy over figs just at the same time that Whole Foods had a giant gorgeous display of them… on sale. Whole Foods 1, Erica 0. More like Whole Foods 20,000, Erica 0 when you calculate the amount I’ve probably spent there this year. In any case, I bought them, was introduced to the glory of fresh figs, and have never looked back.

Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Figs and Sage

A few of the ways I’ve been loving figs are:

– Just taking bites out of them! Usually right when I get home from the grocery store :)

– On my oatmeal with cinnamon and honey

– On pizza (although mine will never be as good as Figs’…)

– And finally, sauteed with onions and celery, mixed with quinoa and fresh sage, and stuffed into these adorable little squash bowls.

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Quinoa Crunch Granola (Vegan)

August 19, 2013 by Erica

Quinoa Crunch Granola (Vegan)

So Nate and I did something a little crazy last week.

And no, we didn’t eat half a batch of granola in the course of 24 hours. (That was the weekend before.) But we did sign a lease on a new apartment!

Eek.

Quinoa Crunch Granola (Vegan)

We were planning on staying in our current apartment for another year, partly because it’s pretty nice and partly because we’re lazy, when our lease is up at the end of this week. I’ve been meaning to email our landlords to tell them so for months, but somehow I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And then out of nowhere we found ourselves at an open house one night last week, falling in love with a gorgeous remodeled apartment in a big old Victorian house in our neighborhood. You guys… it is so pretty. High ceilings, beautiful crown molding, subway tile, two bathrooms… and the kitchen? I would think I was in heaven if I hadn’t just written a check for the security deposit.

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